


Growing under them

by Nicoforlife



Series: the golden age raises the new [2]
Category: Team Crafted, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adoption, Gen, How Do I Tag, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27138595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicoforlife/pseuds/Nicoforlife
Summary: It started when Merome brought home a kid.
Series: the golden age raises the new [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961365
Comments: 115
Kudos: 359





	1. The hub

**Author's Note:**

> :)

The thing about the Hub is that there were always kids. Most would have caretakers, players that had taken these baby spawns or orphans in, most were just waiting for their caretaker to come back so they could go on their way home. 

But sometimes those kids were alone. Whether having just spawned into the world or having died in a hardcore society. Most times these kids would seek out the oldest available player at the Hub, they didn't mean to, they did even know why they just did. Normally, a caretaker on the other end would intercept them as they bee-lined toward some other player. 

Mitch and Jerome were used to seeing some little one start weaving through the crowds towards them before being cut off, the two of them were old; they had been some of the first spawned and it showed. When they were in the Hub sometimes even little ones that already had parents would start to magnet towards them. But the kids never reached them.

The duo had always joked about how, if a kid did, they might just have to take care of them, simply because of the fact that it never happened. They were old and showed no interest in being caretakers and were more known for their killings then their charisma, they guessed people just assumed they didn't want to deal with a new spawn. 

They were wrong of course. 

Every time they hung around Hub, bickering with each other over which pvp battle to win, a kid would start to head their way and they would hold their breath. Kids were something they were both confused and fascinated by. The next generation of builders and pvpers, and they always gravitated towards them. To have one would be amazing.

But they couldn't just go looking for a kid, it was like an unspoken rule between the old ones. The kid comes to you, you don't go to the kid. 

So, they waited, and waited, always watching with maybe too giddy eyes, new spawns and orphans tried to get to them before a caretaker scooped them up. They never made it.

Then one did.

They were in the hub trying to pick between servers like always when they saw a kid maybe six years old appear alone.

A new spawn.

The kid glanced around, their hair was a kind of pink, with floppy pig-like ears and little tusks poking out from their lips.

They locked eyes on the two of them.

Mitch, having been the one to see the kid elbowed his partner to look both holding their breath as the kid started weaving through the bustling hub to get to them. 

The kid had a look in their eyes that reminded them both of something their entire group shared, a determined stubborn cocktail that made them defy the odds again and again. 

And then, a caretaker intervened.

Like they tended to with new spawns. The caretaker picked the kid up to stop them in their tracks speaking to them in a soft tone. 

The two sighed hearts sinking, not today. 

They watched as the caretaker started to walk off, the kid gaining a look of distress before they saw something click in those eyes and the look was back. The look that their group shared.

The kid then bit the caretaker. Hard. Something that the two had never seen happen before.

The caretaker, rightfully startled, loosened their grip enough for the kid to wiggle free, near bolting the remaining distance to the two of them before latching onto Jerome's leg, hiding from the caretaker who was approaching.

“They made it,” Mitch whispered in near awe, looking at the little one glaring at the caretaker.

“They made it,” Jerome confirmed, picking up the child with a small smile. The kid unaware of what they just accomplished was still glaring holes into the caretaker's head.

“I am so sorry about them,” was the rush apology the caretaker gave, clearly nervous about the fact that a child had just made a run to the two.

“They made it,” Mitch repeated his grin growing, “Sky is going to be so fucking jealous! First tc kid and it's ours! Hell yeah!” He pumped a fist, near vibrating with joy. The caretaker, bless their soul, looked very very confused.

“I’m, ah, I'm sorry, are they yours?”

Jerome took his eyes off his partner, nodding to the caretaker before his gaze shifted back to the overzealous Bajan Canadian, laughing at his antics.

The thing about the old ones was that for all they appeared to just care about winning and making it to the top, they were soft souls. Old soft souls that held the children close to their hearts because they gave hope just as the old ones did. It's why Sky made his army, it's why they tried to connect with the recruits, and it's why their people had such high morale.

The old ones won wars, they gave hope to the hopeless, joy to the broken, and a light to those in the dark.

Just as the new spawned did, by simply existing.

So, here was a child determined to get to them that held the same fire that seemed lost in most of the next generation and they made it.

The first of the next generation, the new hope of the old ones, had been found.


	2. little one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short but soft

His name was Technoblade, and he had them wrapped around his chubby little finger.

To say that the team spoiled the kid would be putting it lightly, little Techno had eight overpowered and, perhaps, under protective parents at his beck and call. 

He, of course, being only six, didn't realize the power he had and mostly used his sway to do things most would consider very against the rules. Watching a tiny Techno being dragged along on Sky’s cape was the highlight of most people’s day. Seeing their leader try to keep at least some form of respect while he still had a child attached to himself behind the man. Getting an extra dessert from Ssundee, convincing Ty to sit with him on the roof, the one time Husky watched him use a shield was to go sledding in the middle of summer onto a pile of pure white sheets the not at all apologetic child then weaseled his way out of punishment in a way no one was quite sure how, Seto found him at least once a week making a castle out of the old tomes and books in his library, playing hide and seek with Jason’s helmet for days on end, asking and then getting weapons from Mitch and then convincing Jerome to teach him how to use them. 

The amount of heart attacks the more sane members of the team had because of the recklessness of their partners made it hard for them to believe they were even still alive. 

From letting the kid sleep outside, but never asking where he was going, to the creeper hoard incident. Techno was the definition of a problem child, but at this point, they were starting to realize why he was so chaotic.

He was mimicking.

This itty bitty six year old saw his bat shit crazy parents doing risky dangerous and sometimes flat out widely agreed as illegal things and mimicked them. Other than the cape thing that was just something cute, he probably picked it up from the cats that tended to nest there when Sky was sitting down. Pair the mimicking with the fact that the kid was  _ smart  _ and it was a recipe for destruction. 

Not that he ever got in trouble for his mimicking; they were his parents, not hypocrites, it just meant they cleared the area before doing something stupid so that Techno wouldn’t replicate it.

He would always replicate it anyway.

The recruits had to grow used to suddenly a six-year-old being able to get away with more than some of their captains did, but it didn't take long considering Technos charm seemed to reach them as well.

But, like all things, Techno had his fairly negative bits, something that only Sky seemed to click with, but they all knew the name of. 

ADHD. 

Sky had mentioned it once when they were watching their kid pick up a task and then abandon it for a new one clearly growing frustrated as he tried to get something done, but then something else caught his attention.

“To early to tell, but the kid might have adhd,”

There was, like always when the disability was mentioned, a mixed reaction from the team. They each had a different grasp on their friends' struggle with the illness, but the common consensus was, it could save your life because you noticed something no one else would, but also get you killed because you got distracted by an unimportant detail. Sky had tried to describe it beyond that to them, why exactly he needed them to hold him accountable for everything no matter how small, why his moods could change on a dime, why exactly so much of him was because of this different wiring in his brain.

They didn't understand, but they tried. Although they knew despite that, it was difficult for him.

So, to hear their kid might have this cursed blessing was disorienting. There was no pity, they could see it wasn’t needed just by glancing at Sky, but for a couple, there was distress connecting with the kid would be harder if that was the case. Figuring out how he thought and helping him would be a challenge, Sky had already figured it out when they met, but this kid did not, their kid didn't, the kid was capable, the kid was competent but how would they help when they didn't know what they were helping. The kid was still a kid after all.

From some it didn’t quite click why that mattered; they saw how Sky wasn't truly all that different from them so why would it cause any problems was there even really any issues that would arise?

Ty and Jason simply understood why Sky was pointing it out; they didn't get how Sky’s mind worked or how he taught through things, but they, more so than the others, understood the oddness of living in a world that no one else could see as you did. He wasn't saying it because the other would understand; he was saying it because  _ he  _ had adhd and he saw the world at least similar to how the kid saw it. At least that's what they guessed, Ty reasoned he might be overthinking Sky just pointing something out and Jason reminded himself that reading normal people was hard and Sky was… well, Sky.

In reality, Sky had just been clearing his thoughts and that one had been so sudden and interesting. He had to share it before he even registered what he was saying, aka him being himself and no one else quite getting what he was doing or thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is waaay to short but eh


	3. that lil mask fucker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ssundee added dream to the party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note:the ones that find them might not be the ones they connect with most technically all of tc is raising all of the kids they find together also i swear the chapter will get longer-

Ssundee hated the Hub. He, unlike some of his teammates, found it just generally unpleasant. Sure, it's where new spawns appeared, but it was also loud and bright. People always talking about you just within earshot so you can't tell if it's good things or bad things. Sky had once mentioned how it might be overstimulating him, not that he understood most of the brain talks that Sky did. He knew stuff he could see and change, but almost all psychology Sky, Ty, and Jason even mentioned flew straight over his head. Servers as a rule were generally much more pleasant, the main hub was something he liked to simply speed through as fast as physically possible. 

Speeding through it though didn't mean he wasn't liable to have a child barrel straight into his chest.

He liked kids, he did. Techno was an angel and most kids he saw in games were at the very least fun to watch, but having one ram into you and then basically clinging onto your back wasn't exactly the best introduction.

As the caretaker chasing after the kid finally caught up, something registered in his head.

The kid made it.

Just like little angel Techno, this speed demon had made it to him.

And now he was obligated to bring the little brat home.

_ Fuck _ .

He waved off the caretaker's apologies as he glanced at the kid. 

Normal looking kid. Blond hair, simple clothes, seemed the same age as Techno. The only odd thing was the flat smiling mask that perfectly covered his eyes and nose. 

“Congrats kiddo, you found me.”

He tried to keep his tone chipper despite the fact that the too bright (even with his sunglasses) light was starting to grate on his eyes.

“What's your name kid?”

“Dream.”

“Well Dream, names Ssundee. How about we head home?”

Dream huh? Techno better start getting used to having to share.


	4. hide and seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things hurt

Techno would not, in fact, get used to sharing.

Much like when Techno arrived there was a small swarm of the team trying to see the new little one, Techno being at the front and staring the kid down. For the next week or so everything seemed fine; Techno and Dream kind of got along, Techno showing no signs of distress. 

Then, Dream took his spot on Sky’s cape. 

Sky had not even registered the added weight used to Techno curling up on the fabric (after his little realization he noted Techno seemed to almost use his cape as a stim). Dream, the naive child he was, just wanted to see what the fuss was about not quite realizing how much it would upset his supposed friend.

And did it  _ upset  _ him.

At first glance, most would think Techno was an unshakable child; monotone to the point of concern, and relatively calm. This was mostly outright false. He was nowhere near a calm child, but he was very good at acting like it when he felt the need to. It was almost like his defense mechanism sometimes. When he was somewhat sad or nervous, he went monotone; sadly, this wasn't the same for when he was angry, upset, or scared. 

When that happened he tended to act one of two ways. Most of the time he would go quite watch and focus as he calmed down. The other way was that he got  _ loud.  _ He would yell and shout and cry until someone comforted him. 

When he got loud it was easy for even his parents to mistake it as a fit, Techno was still a kid after all and he did at times have actual fits of childish anger. Sky seemed to be the only one to reliably tell the difference between a fit and him getting loud.

From little Techno’s point of view, as he stared at dream perched on Sky’s cape, he had just been replaced. He had lost affection, and his spot, to the new kid. 

Rejection-sensitive dysphoria is a symptom of adhd, this symptom makes the afflicted feel that at any perceived loss of affection feel apparently like a gunshot.

And little Techno felt he was being replaced. 

He took off running before Sky and Dream even knew he was there.

He ran right to Jerome, if Sky had replaced him then had Jerome replaced him too? It barely registered that Jerome was preoccupied when he found him, his mind working too fast to register anything but his own hurt. 

He was crying.

“Jerome, Dream took my spot. Jerome, Dream took my spot and Sky likes him better,” his voice was sharp for once, the monotone drawl sharpened to a blade in his hurt.

“I’m sure that's not the case kid.”

Jerome brushed him off, not even glancing at him.

The pain got worse.  _ Jerome had replaced him, he trusted Dream more than him _ , his little mind whispered to him.

He was running again. 

He knew this place like the back of his hand, soon enough he was tucked away in a closed-in little nook in one of the outer wings scrubbing his eyes as he cried his mind a loop of how he had been replaced how he wasn't wanted, wasn't loved. 

Because to his little child mind with a heart still aching, it only made sense.

It took two hours for Sky to notice the little one messing with his cape wasn't Techno. Carefully, he lifted Dream off and explained to him in a soft tone how that was  _ Techno’s _ spot, how upset Techno would be if he found Dream there. He carefully guided the empathetic child through why his friend would feel that way, how he would perceive his spot being taken much differently than Dream would.

Sky could already imagine the sound Techno’s heart would make as it broke in two, he had heard his own make the sound more than he cared to admit.

It took Sky three more hours to realize the damage had already been done.

Normally, by now, Techno would be perched on his cape eating a snack of some kind, instead, Sky watched the door as his heart sunk.

Techno was still too young to rationalize perceived rejection as overreacting. Sky himself was still having trouble with it and he was very much so an adult. If Techno had seen Dream in his spot he might still be spiraling in the cesspool that was perceived rejection.

With a sigh he stood, wincing as his back popped. He was getting old.

“Welp, time to go looking,” he muttered to himself, mentally mapping out a path he would have taken had this happened to him. He thought more like the kid than his companions, even if that was arbitrary with how different they were.

It took him ten minutes to hear the sniffling. Internally preparing himself so he wouldn't also start crying, he let his footsteps grow a bit louder. Peeping into the small silver in the wall with Techno wedged in the back curled up. He was right, at least this part of the home had all the nice calm down spots.

“Hey, piglet.” He had to crouch down to peer into the alcove taking off his sunglasses so Techno could see his eyes and see the other better. “Not doing so great huh bud?”

Techno glanced at him. His watery amber eyes meeting Sky’s calm gold.

“Want to come out or stay in there?” 

At his question, Techno pushed against the wall behind him, glancing away and not meeting his eyes.

“Yeah, I get it. These spots are great for when you're sad aren't they?” He kept his tone level and calm as he had always wished someone had in those early days when he could hardly understand why he seemed so sensitive, much less understand that his brain tended to blow things out of shape.

“Do you want to talk about it piglet?” he asked, watching as Techno desperately shook his head ‘no’.

“Alright you don't have to, I'm not going to force you to say anything. Just know I'm right here if you want to ok?”

He couldn't force him to stop spiraling. He couldn't force anything and getting angry with him would just make it worse and lash out at him later. Being snapped out of a spiral by someone upset had always made it worse for him at least and that's really all he had to go off of.

“I love you Techno,” he murmured quietly, flinching at the wet response.

“No, you don't.”

Progress at least.

“Why's that?”

“You like Dream more.”

So he had seen then, this was going to be fun.

“I don't like either of you more piglet.” He held his breath as he waited for the snap.

“I thought I was your favorite,” the tone was betrayed and the snap had hit, Sky carefully swallowed the growing lump in his throat. He had to be smart with this.

“You're my kid piglet and so is Dream, neither of you could replace each other.” it seemed off topic he knew, but that response had told him what the kid was thinking, he thought Dream had taken both his affection and his place. Just like Sky had thought he might when he had noticed dream in Techno’s spot.

Techno finally looked him in the eyes. Sky thanking himself for having the foresight of removing his glasses as they stared at each other. 

And then Techno was shimmying his way out of the crawl space, latching onto Sky when he was out. Sky carefully started breathing again, making sure it didn't sound like a sigh of relief, who knows what the kid would think of that when he had likely just left a spiral. 

“I'm sorry.”

Sky nearly scoffed at that, petting the kid’s hair. 

“I think you mean thank you bud.” 

Sky could see the kid pause at that saw his brain turning as he nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome piglet, now how about we go get some snacks?”

Techno’s eyes lit up.

Oh how quickly they could both bounce back.

“Mini potatoes?”

“Mini potatoes,” he confirmed standing up with the kid settled neatly on his hip.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment please it feeds my soul 
> 
> Also oh look a discord link
> 
> https://discord.gg/xJ8dMjv
> 
> Wonder how dead it is


End file.
